SINGAPORE — A total of 37 complaints were made against clothing company MDS Collections from June 1 to Dec 31 last year, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said on Tuesday (Feb 9).

The majority of the complaints have to do with consumers not receiving their orders or receiving incomplete orders on scheduled delivery dates. Some have yet to receive their items despite more than six months of waiting, the consumer watchdog said in a statement.

In certain cases, consumers were told to collect their orders at MDS retail outlets but found the stores to be shut.

Case said it has issued a warning letter to the retailer, adding that it “will not hesitate to take the necessary action provided for under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA), which includes referring the matter to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore”.

“Under the CPFTA, it is an unfair practice for a supplier to make false claims that goods are available or available in particular quantities if the supplier knows or can reasonably be expected to know it is not so.”

Other complaints about the retailer involved a subscription service for its online store. 

Customers who signed up for the service  — some paying up to S$99.90 a month for various perks — said they noticed unauthorised charges, and were charged monthly fees even after having terminated their subscriptions, Case said.

Customers also reported not having received refunds after months, despite the retailer’s refund policy stating the maximum processing time to be 45 days. 

“MDS Collections also failed to resolve most of the complaints received by Case to date, while still continuing with their online sales,” Case added.

Customers with unresolved complaints relating to MDS Collections may seek advice from Case.

Later on Tuesday, MDS Collections founder Joe Phua posted an apology on the company’s Instagram page.

“I apologise for the inconvenience and pain that part of our operations has brought to some of our customers,” the post read.

Mr Phua said the massive delays were a result of a fabric shortage and a plunge in shipments from China due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

He added that he had always felt the company’s customer service was “lacking in many areas”, and original customer service guidelines were “filtered” due to the high turnover rate in the department.

To address this, Mr Phua said he re-hired former staff from the company’s now-closed retail stores in December, and trained them to take on customer service roles. 

“Our new customer service team will work to reply and resolve every single email within 48 hours,” he said.